Groceries

After going to Tesco every week for about a month, we finally ventured out and found a store called Alma. We had heard about it, but it's in a galeria that is a bit far from us so it always seemed like more a hassle to me to go there, deal with parking, and then possibly having to wander through a mall with my big shopping cart in order to make my way back to the car. We were kicking ourselves for not going there sooner because it is the best supermarket here by far. It's really nice and clean and neat looking and all of the food looks really fresh, and I was able to find some of the things I have been searching for - artichoke hearts, oatmeal, quinoa, hummus and things like that. They even had what looked to be an organic/health section which will be useful. And as an added bonus they even deliver, so I can shop online if I want. Tesco delivered in Dublin but I found that I never took advantage of it, because for some reason I couldn't find 2 or 3 items that we liked online so I figured, if I have to go into the store anyway, I might as well just do it all at once - plus it was right next to the kids' school so it was easy to get to. They have several different Alma shops all over Krakow so I don't have to go that far all the time, we found one much closer to our house but it's really small and hardly has any produce so I always end up not finding things I need.

Outside of Alma, our new favorite store

Oatmeal, finally! If I couldn't see inside the package I never would have guessed that that said oatmeal though

They even had a cigar store inside

Not Alma specific, but all the stores carry these awesome little cans of tomato puree. I always got annoyed by the larger ones in the US and Dublin because I would only ever use a tablespoon or so, and then would have to throw the rest away. But these are almost the perfect size! It comes in little jars too

As some of you may know, I like to keep my kitchen stocked with booze because I am a lush just in case we have unexpected company. Last summer I really took a liking to mojitos and I saw this here and had to try it. I think it translates as 'peppermint and lime', not as good as a mojito but not too bad either. I actually drank it straight the first time and probably could have breathed fire afterwards so now I know to just add a little to the glass and fill the rest with sparkling water  - and crushed ice of course.

The hot dogs here come individually wrapped. At first I wasn't sure if I was supposed to take it off before I cooked it, but when I examined it closely it looked to be plastic so I took it off. Turns out my kids don't like Polish hot dogs anyway, which I know I should be happy about but I am just running out of ideas of lunches for them. I can't wait for school to start and then I will force them to eat the hot meal every day and hopefully get some decent nutrients into them, I have seen some of the menus and it all looks pretty good.

Just a gross thing I saw on the shelf

I am happy to see they love coconut here, I noticed every ice cream store always has coconut ice cream, but I have seen lots of cookies (top left and bottom right), candy/chocolates, and even croissants filled with coconut at the bread store near our house - so yummy! I wonder why it's so popular here?